Community Services

Other Community Services offered by DCMS

Dallas Academy of Medicine
Health Allies
Health Resources
Speaker's Bureau
Join Immunize Kids! Dallas Area Partnership

Project Access Dallas
Top Ten Specialists Needed in Project Access Dallas

Photos from 2006 Project Access Celebration with Henry "The Fonz" Winkler are now available online! If you have questions about obtaining photos, contact Traci Beeson, DCMS director of communications, at tbeeson@dallas-cms.org or 214-413-1429.

Missions Opportunities

Home
International

Bring Meaning Back to Your Life - Volunteer!

Physicians Recall Their Missions Experience

MediSend/International
Healing In Honduras
Bulgarian Medical Mission
Mission to Bangalore
Report from Afghanistan
Mission to Afghanistan
Mission to Israel
Mexico Mission Trip

Texas now has an Official Donor Registry

Thanks to the new Glenda Dawson Donate Life Texas Registry, it’s easy to sign up to be an organ donor . Learn more about becoming a donor by visiting www.donatelifetexas.org.

Signing up online or registering when you renew your driver license at the Department of Public Safety is easy. The registry is the only official and legal way to declare yourself a donor in the state of Texas. If your name is on the registry, your wish to be a donor cannot be overturned.

In Texas, more than 7000 people are waiting for an organ transplant. Thousands of people die needlessly each year due to a lack of organ and tissue donors.
Take time today to register your wish to be a donor, and let family members know that you want to be a lifesaver.

One person’s generosity can save up to eight lives through organ donation and enhance another 50 lives through tissue donation.

Anyone can help save lives by deciding now to become a donor:

One donor can provide organs and tissue for 50 or more people in need.
Donations do not cost anything for the donor’s family.
You are never too old or young to be a donor.
Donation is not considered until all efforts to save the patient’s life have failed.
And your family will be notified and asked about your decision, so the most important thing you can do is to make sure your family knows you want to be an organ/tissue donor.

GO SHOPPING!

That’s right, go head and buy something for yourself –– a new CD, the latest bestseller, essentials like toothpaste or vitamins, even a computer. But first join www.igive.com/DCMS. Every time you shop at one of the over 600 name-brand stores in the Mall at iGive.com, Dallas Academy of Medicine receives a donation of up to 26% of each purchase you make, at no cost to you.

Remember, donating to the Dallas Academy of Medicine won’t cost you a thing. But we’ll miss out on a lot of extra dough, if you don’t join. So visit www.igive.com/DCMS now. Membership is free and your privacy is guaranteed. For more information, contact Ashley Bradley, DCMS director of development, at ashley@dallas-cms.org or call 214-413-1446.

Project Access Dallas is now part of the Tom Thumb Good Neighbor Program!

Tom Thumb now offers its customers a way to direct their donation dollars to the Dallas County Medical Society’s community program, Project Access Dallas. You can now link Project Access to your Tom Thumb reward card by completing the Tom Thumb Reward Application Form (CLICK HERE) and returning it to your local Tom Thumb Courtesy Booth or you can fax it to Project Access at 214-941-3351 and we’ll take care of it for you. Fill in the top portion and the "Good Neighbor Program" section, indicating you wish to have the Project Access account number (11664) linked to your card. Tom Thumb will then pay 1% of your total grocery purchase to Project Access.

The more people who link their card to the Project Access account number, the more money we will raise! Thank you for partnering with us as we reach out to our neighbors in need. For more information, contact Ashley Bradley, DCMS director of development, at ashley@dallas-cms.org or call 214-413-1446.

A Spray Away: Insect Repellent Best Way to Prevent West Nile

With warm weather here to stay, mosquitoes are multiplying across the state—some of them carrying the West Nile virus. But there is a simple way people can bite back: insect repellent. “Use a good insect repellent. Use it every time you are outdoors. That’s the No. 1 thing people can do to protect themselves from mosquito-borne illnesses,” said Jim Schuermann with the Zoonosis Control Group at the Texas Department of State Health Services. “It’s tough to tell people to wear long sleeves and long pants in the Texas heat.”

West Nile virus can cause serious illness in humans. Mosquitoes get the virus from feeding on infected birds. West Nile virus cases usually begin in late spring, peak in early August and continue through the fall. Last year, 128 human cases of West Nile virus were reported in Texas, including 11 deaths. “West Nile virus is here and it’s not going away,” Schuermann said. “If you go outside, wear repellent.”

Look for insect repellents that contain DEET, picaridin, or oil of lemon eucalyptus. According to a 2005 DSHS analysis, 60 percent of the people who got the most serious forms of West Nile infection never used repellent. “Use a good repellent on bare skin and follow the directions on the label,” Schuermann said. “DEET is the standby—long-lasting and effective. Picaridin-based repellents are new, tend to smell better, and are less oily. Lemon eucalyptus-based repellents are ideal for people who are sensitive to chemical repellents or just don’t like using them.”

DSHS offers these recommendations:

Store insect repellent at the front and back doors of your home and apply when you go outside. Keep extra repellent in outdoor areas such as patios and decks.
Mosquito-proof your house. Make sure door seals are secure and window screens are intact.
Drain standing water from around your home. Empty cans, buckets, tires, rain gutters, and saucers under potted plants regularly. Change the water in pet bowls, bird baths ,and wading pools several times a week.
Limit the amount of time you spend outdoors from dusk to dawn. These are times when those mosquitoes likely to carry infections are most active.

The risk of exposure to West Nile virus is relatively small. Not all mosquito species can transmit the virus. Of the species that can, only about one in 100 mosquitoes will carry the virus. Eighty percent of people infected with West Nile virus have no symptoms and recover on their own. But the virus can cause serious illness.

Symptoms of the milder forms of West Nile illness include fever, severe headache, muscle and bone aches, nausea, and drowsiness. Symptoms of more serious forms of West Nile illness include a stiff neck, visual problems, altered taste, body tremors, mental confusion, memory loss, and seizures. Symptoms usually appear from three to 14 days after a person is bitten.

People most at risk of developing symptoms are those older than 50 and those with compromised immune systems. If West Nile illness is suspected, people should contact their local healthcare provider. A blood test can confirm West Nile infection. There is no specific treatment for West Nile infections. West Nile virus was first identified in Texas in 2002 and has since been found throughout the state.

People should not handle dead birds with their bare hands. Instead, use a shovel, protective gloves or plastic bags. Throw birds away in an outdoor garbage can. Most bird deaths pose no threat to human health, but if West Nile virus is suspected contact your local health department.

Other mosquito-borne illnesses include St. Louis encephalitis, eastern equine encephalitis, western equine encephalitis and dengue fever. For more information visit the DSHS Web site, www.dshs.state.tx.us.

Become a Partner for the Care of the Community
Top Ten Specialists Needed in Project Access Dallas

Are you one of the specialists below? Project Access Dallas needs you! Please consider donating just one or two office visits a month to support working but uninsured Dallas County residents. To volunteer contact Sharka Jones, Project Access Physician and Ancillary Network Manager, at 214-948-3622, ext. 239, or sharka@dallas-cms.org. For more information on Project Access, visit www.projectaccess.info.

Family Practice/General Practice
Internal Medicine
General Surgeons
Orthopaedic Surgeons (especially Foot and Ankle, and Hand surgeons)
Colon/Rectal Surgeons
Psychiatry
Endocrinology
Gastroenterology
Nephrology
Urology

DCMS Involvement in Public Health Issues

The involvement of the Dallas County Medical Society in public health issues in this community began over 120 years ago in 1876. Then, as well as now, the physicians of the county were actively involved. They committed their professional resources to assure that the citizens of Dallas county received the best medical care available. Today, Dallas County Medical Society's 6000 members comprises approximately 80% of the physicians in the county. Dallas has the third largest county medical society in the nation; it is larger than many state societies.

DCMS created the Board of Health in 1999, with physician members and consultants available to give municipal and county agencies access to an organized, authoritative medical response to public heath problems in Dallas County.
Dallas' Emergency Medical System was established in the early 1970s with the help of the medical society.
In the 1960s, 450 physicians (more than 35% of the DCMS membership) volunteered at 90 immunization sites for the Polio Campaign, vaccinating every student in the Dallas Independent School District.
In 1972, DCMS cosponsored a countywide rubella immunization program. More than 250 physicians volunteered and immunized 140,000 children.
The Science Place at Fair Park originated with the help and underwriting of DCMS and many individual physicians in the medical community.
In 1992, the medical society was involved in the area-wide trauma plan and provided measles immunizations.

DCMS plays an integral role in public health countywide initiatives.

Through its involvement in the Immunize Kids! Dallas Area Partnership, DCMS supports outreach efforts that have immunized thousands of children and adults against vaccine-preventable illnesses. Largely through the Coalition's work, the immunization rate in Dallas County has risen from 34 percent in 1994 to 77 percent in 1999.

DCMS continues to provide domestic violence information cards to physicians, hospitals, social workers, and agencies. DCMS and the Dallas County Medical Society Alliance initiated the public awareness campaign in 1993 and we continue to fill requests for the wallet-size cards, printed in English and Spanish, which offer sources of help available in our community.

Through its membership on the Advisory Board of the School of Health Professions at Townview Magnet Center, in Dallas, DCMS works closely with the school principal and teachers to ensure the school's curriculum meets students' needs upon graduation.